Perforated music roll



L.- M. SEVERSON AND A. LIVINGSTON.

PERFORATED MUSIC ROLL. APPLICATION FILED MARx Ilfy 1921.

-Paaerlted Apr. 4, 1922.

2 SHLEIS-SHEET I nvantoz II. .lIlInlluxIIwl L. M. SEVERSON AND A. LIVINGSTON.

vPERFORATED MUSIC ROLL.

APPLlcAloN man MAR.14'. 1921.

1,411,806, Patented Api'. 4, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

PATENT FFIC.

'Louis ivi. snvnnson Ann ALFRED nivines'ron, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,

rnnronn'rnn Music' noni..

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 4, 1922.

Application iledMarch 14, 1921. Serial No. 452,260.

T o all fw tem t may conce/Mt Be it known that we, Louis M'. Snvnnson and ALFRED LiviNcs'roN, citizens of the United States, residing at Chicago, A in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new andfuseful Improvements in Perforated MusicRolls; and we do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe saine, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming ypart of this spec-ification.

This invention relates to a perforated music roll for use on 'automatic player pianos, and has for its object the provision of a sheet so punched and printed that each syllable of the printed matter shall exactly register kwith the corresponding note perfot ration `punched in the sheet at a time by a different machine.

In making music rolls it is customary to run a pack consisting usually of from fifteen to eighteen sheets through a machine quite similar in construction and operation to an ordinary multiple punch press, this punch perforating the sheetsin previous the well known manner, so that a plurality of. the punch holes merge, thus forming slots. been so punched, the sheets are separately run through a stenciling` machine or a printing machine inorder to place the words of the music on the edge of tlie'roll.

This method is satisfactory only in a fair measure, since it has been-impossiblepup to the present time to secure accuracy-in the placing of the words or syllables at the two ends of the roll, for the reason that, if the words or syllables are made to correspond withgthe kmusic perforations at the beginning of the piece, they will be found to be out of registry' at the close of the piece. By bringing the center-of the roll into correct registry with the stencil, the error'may be reduced fifty per cent. at either end, but, even in this case, the erroris large enough to be decidedly appreciable when singing with the player piano. y y There are many-conditions' which co-operate to form this lackof registry, the three principal ones being (a) the contraction and expansion of the individual sheets due to change' of temperaturefor relative humidity, thus altering Vthe lmoistureV content of the paper; (b) the slippage of the pack While it is heilig fed through the mltiple After the sheets of the pack? have punch press; andV (c) the variation of the i rollers or pullers that feed the pack through the multiple punching machines.

IVhatever the cause may be, it has been `found that the lengths of these perforated rolls, which are usually vfrom eighteen to twenty-fire feet in length, vary to a considerable extent in spite of the fact that they are made from the same master and under conditions as near similar as `it is possible"` to have ,in practice. The printing machine or stencil is naturally quite constant and unchanging in operation, so that when `these rolls of various lengths are printed they are found to be out of lateral alinement withthe corresponding. notes or perforations at either or both ends.

In the practice of `making sheets of the present invention, no attempt is made, as

previously, to avoid the varying length of the perforated rolls, but the words or syllables are brought into accurate synchronization and alinement with the music eX- pressed by the perforations by an intermittent printing and by ashifting of the perforated music sheet to correct registry just before each impression is made.

In preparingthe master which is laid ofi' insteps of progression, a perforation in the margin of the roll is placed after every certain number of steps. When this master is run through` the multiple punch press niachinathis marginal perforation in the master` sheet also cuts a perfo-ration on one or both margins of the roll, as may be desired, thev result being that although the rolls vary in length to any degree within usual practice, each side marginal perforation will nevertheless always be in lateral alinement with the adjacent music perforaticns throughout the entire roll, since the distance between the marginal perfora-V tions is but al small fraction of the Width or length of the roll. f

In printing the syllables corresponding to the notes on these perforated rolls, each `roll orwsheet is advanced through the printing machine intermittently a little over an 23 is caused to recede slightly past the nextr successive ratchet tooth to the rear in order to provide sufiicient lost motion to insure the raising of the type or stencil from the paper before the tracker wheels start to advance the roll.

The record roll sheets are punched in packs, as stated, the music perforations being formed by a` plurality of punch holes varying from single circular holes to long slots made of a hundred or more overlapped holes, while the marginal perforations are each single holes spaced about seventy steps of progression of the sheets apart on each margin, so that the sheets or rolls will ad Vance thiirty-iive times between the punching of successive opposite marginal perforations. It is preferable to punch a half dozen or so marginal perforations at either end of the rolls beyond the notes corresponding to the words, in 4order to permit the advancing of the sheets a number -of timesbefore the first impression, but this is not at all essential. v y

iVhen the pack of sheets is punched the rolls are fed separately to the mechanism illustrated. It will be understood that the rolls are delivered to the printer reversed, so that the rolls, when printed, may be kwound directly upon the cores or spools in finished form, except for the ring-holding tabs which are later afiixed to the pointed fronttip of the roll, and that only such mechanism is shown as is thought necessary to illustrate the practice of the process, all other mechanism being omitted for the sake of clearness and to emphasize the fact that the invention lies particularly in the process itself, rather than in the specific enibodiment of any particular printing and advancing means.

The shaft 25 rotates at 'constant speed and, therefore, operates the printing head 45 at a definite number of reciprocations per' minute by virtue of the slot and pin connection with the pitman 28. The pitman, thus operated, constantly and regularly rocks the levers 29 and 36 and through the link 39 and the .pushing pawl 23 intermittently operates the tracker wheels 14 to ad- Vancey the sheet or roll, but acts in such a manner that the pawl 23 overrunsl its dwell position to an extent equal to the greatest possible variation in the spacing f of successive perforations 16 in the side margins-of the perforated roll, in order to insure that the conical pin shall properly engage the corresponding hole k16 on its forward movement and carry the slack in the roll slightly beyond the printing posi tion. The, spring 41 now returns the tracker wheels 14 and consequently the appropriate pin 15 to proper position, this action causing a shifting of the record sheet 17 to correct registry with the printing mechanism, irrespective of the shrinkage or expansion of the sheet. The spring 41 cooperates with the pawl 40 to hold the tracker wheels 14 in definite position during the downward movement of the link 89 which takes place simultaneously with the downward movement of the printing head 45 which prints the syllables. It will be noted that the tracking mechanism is stationary during the printing and that for a slight period just before, immediately after, and during the impression stroke the position of the slack in the record sheet 17 is controlled absolutely and ysolely by a single pin 15 exactly fitting a marginal perforation 16, thus securing absolutely accurate registry `of the adjacent syllables with the corre- 1. A music roll having a central longi tudinal portion perforated to form slots and having a series of substantially equispaced marginal perforations, and syllables arran ed in longitudinal series along a margin o said roll each of said syllables being definitely spaced with respect to a proximate marginal perforation 2. A music roll sheet having a central longitudinal series of perforations therein and a second series of perforations along one edge thereof. said second seriesV consisting of a pluralityof substantially equispaced single holes, each in definite relation to proximate irregular central perfo` rations, and syllables arranged in a longi tudinal series on said sheet, the. syllables nearest each of said single holes being definitely spaced with relation thereto and LOUIS M. SEVERSON. ALFRED LIVINGSTON. 

